Piece of clothing

ABSTRACT

The invention relates to a piece of clothing, particularly for use in athletic activities such as jogging, skating, skiing, or the like, provided with pads in the regions of the outsides of joints, wherein the pads ( 1 ) are formed by ribs ( 4 ) located on the side oriented toward the skin ( 3 ) adjacent to each other and oriented substantially at right angles to the longitudinal axis of the piece of clothing, and the ribs ( 4 ) are decoupled from each other.

The invention relates to an item of clothing, in particular for use inathletic activities such as jogging, skating, skiing or the like,provided with padding in the area of the outside of the joints.

Clothing serves to protect a person, in particular to protect againstweather. Under certain conditions, e.g., in athletic activities,clothing also serves to protect against injuries. Furthermore especiallyat low temperatures, clothing has the task of preventing cooling of thebody. To do so, it should be windproof and water-repellant.

If the clothing is worn when the body is at rest, its functionality isensured at any time. However, with movement, in particular in athleticactivities, the clothing is stretched and compressed, which may have anegative effect on the functionality which exists in the resting state.Especially in the area of the joints where in the event of flexion thereis a stretching of the clothing on the outside, which leads to areduction in the thickness of the material that is used, the protectivefunction which is ensured in a resting state is no longer provided.

To avoid this disadvantage, it is known that padding may be provided onthe outside of joints (cf. DE 81 04 653 U1, for example). The paddingresults in an increased material thickness, so that in the case offlexion of the joint, the layer of material on the outside of the jointis thicker than would be the case without padding. This results in animprovement in the insulation properties, but the padding that is usedis also stretched with flexion of the joint so that here again thisresults in a reduction of the thickness of the material, which reducesthe good insulation properties in the resting state.

This is where the present invention seeks to remedy the situation. Theobject of the present invention is to create a clothing item, inparticular for use in athletic activities, which will have insulationproperties in the area of the outsides of the joints in the case offlexion of the joint, such that the insulation properties then will bejust as good as in the case of when the joint is extended. According tothe invention, this object is achieved by the fact that the padding isformed by ribs arranged side by side next to one another on the sidefacing the skin and are aligned essentially at a right angle to thelongitudinal axis of the item of clothing, and the ribs are separatedfrom one another.

The present invention creates a clothing item, in particular for use inathletic activities, such that it will have insulation propertiescomparable to those even in the area of the outside of the joint in thecase of flexion of the joint. This is created in particular by the factthat the ribs are uncoupled from one another, so that flexion of thejoint results only in stretching of the outer material, but the ribsretain their material thickness so the distance between the outside ofthe clothing item and the skin remains unchanged. In this way, theweathering which acts from the outside on the flexed joint will be keptaway from the skin so that there is no unpleasant cold feeling on theskin.

In a further embodiment of the invention, the ribs are arranged withoutany connection to one another. This creates the possibility that in thecase of flexion of the joint, the individual ribs can change theirpositions independently of one another so this prevents any mutualinfluence on the movement of the ribs due to neighboring ribs in thecase of flexion of the joint. This results in an extremely flexibleinsulation, which is also of a high quality at the same time.

The ribs are preferably designed with a loop shape. The design of theribs in the form of loops entails the advantage that an air chamber isformed between the interior of the loops and the outside of the clothingitem. Due to the neighboring arrangement of loops and the air cushionstherein, a very good insulation effect is achieved, which also persistsunchanged even in the event of flexion of the joint.

Other further embodiments of the invention are characterized in theother dependent claims. An exemplary embodiment of the invention isdepicted in the drawing and is described in detail below. In thedrawings:

FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a section of padding in the area ofthe knee joint in the unflexed state, and

FIG. 2 shows the padding illustrated in FIG. 1 in the flexed state ofthe knee joint.

The inventive clothing item is explained, for example, on the basis ofthe area of the knee. A padding 1 is provided in the area of the kneejoint 2. The padding 1 is arranged on the outside 21 of the joint of theknee joint 2, i.e., in front of the patella or kneecap and consequentlyon the back of the knee 22. With other joints such as the elbow, theinventive padding is arranged on the side facing away from the bend inthe arm. Likewise, in the area of the shoulders the padding would be onthe side facing away from the underarm or in the case of the fingerjoints the padding would be on the side facing away from the hand/fingersurfaces of the hand. These sides are the outsides of the joint in thesense of the present invention.

The padding 1 lies on the skin 3 of the person wearing the clothing. Itcovers the area of the knee 2 generously. The padding 1 is formed byribs 4 which are sown or knitted onto the outer material 5 which formsthe remaining clothing item, which is usually a textile material. Theribs 4 are also made of a textile material. The ribs 4 are arranged onthe outer material 5 on the side facing the skin 3. A number of ribs 4are provided next to one another, aligned essentially at a right angleto the longitudinal axis of the clothing item, i.e., in the exemplaryembodiment, aligned essentially at a right angle to the longitudinalaxis of the leg and thus essentially horizontally. The ribs 4 each havetwo walls 41 and a base 42 joining the walls 41, so that the ribs 4 reston the skin 3. Consequently, the ribs 4 touch the skin 3 with only anarrow strip so that wearing comfort is increased. The ribs 4 aredesigned in a loop shape so that chambers 6, which are filled withambient air, are created between the walls 41, the base 42 and the outermaterial 5. This creates air cushioning.

The ribs 4 are uncoupled from one another. The uncoupling of the ribs 4means that the ribs 4 are adjacent to one another and arranged so theycome in contact in the extended state of the joint (FIG. 1), but theyare arranged without any connection to one another so that flexion ofthe joint and thus stretching of the outer material 5 do not result instretching of the ribs 4 as shown in FIG. 2. Instead, stretching of theouter material 5 causes a shifting of the ribs 4, so that a column 7always remains between the neighboring ribs 4. The comparison betweenFIGS. 1 and 2 shows clearly that the distance between the outer material5 and the skin 3 remains the same even in the flexed state of the joint.Thus the air cushion created by the chambers 6 is still present even inthe flexed state of the joint. The formation of the column 7 between theneighboring ribs 4 prevents the outer material from resting on the skin3 in the flexed state. This also creates a type of air cushion betweenthe ribs 4, preventing direct action of the ambient air on the skin andthus preventing cooling of the joint.

The inventive padding is suitable in particular for clothing items forathletic activities, but its use is by no means limited to theseactivities. The use of the inventive padding is especially advantageousfor types of sports that are performed in a cold environment or in astrong wind. These types of sports include in particular skiing,snowboarding or ice skating, but also include cycling, which isperformed even at low temperatures and in which the wind also acts onthe joint. Then the inventive padding leads to much less cooling of thejoints.

1. A clothing item, in particular for use in athletic activities such asjogging, skating, skiing or the like, which is provided with padding inthe area of the outsides of the joints, characterized in that thepadding (1) is formed of ribs (4) which are arranged side-by-side nextto one another on the side facing the skin (3) and which are aligned sothey are essentially at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of theclothing item, and the ribs (4) are uncoupled from one another and theribs (4) are designed in the form of loops and have walls (41) and abase (42) connecting the walls (41) and chambers (6) are created jointlywith the outside material (5), these chambers being filled with ambientair.
 2. The clothing item according to claim 1, characterized in thatthe ribs (4) are arranged without any connection to one another. 3.(canceled)
 4. (canceled)
 5. The clothing item according to claim 1,characterized in that the base (42) rests on the skin (3).
 6. Theclothing item according to claim 2, characterized in that the base (42)rests on the skin (3).
 7. A clothing item to be worn by a user forathletic activities such as jogging, skating, skiing or the like, whichis provided with padding in the areas of the outsides of the joints ofthe user for maintaining insulation properties in the outsides of thejoints during flexure of the joints, wherein a padding (1) is formed ofribs (4) which are arranged side-by-side next to one another on the sidefacing the skin (3) of the user and which ribs are aligned so they areessentially at a right angle to the longitudinal axis of the clothingitem, the ribs (4) being uncoupled from one another and the ribs (4)being designed in the form of loops and having walls (41) and a base(42) connecting the walls (41), and chambers (6) created jointly withthe outside material (5), said chambers being filled with ambient air,which creates an air cushion.
 8. A clothing item according to claim 7,wherein the ribs (4) and the outer material (5) are a textile material.9. A clothing item as in claim 7 for use in cold environments, whereinthe ribs (4) are arranged without any connection to one another so thatupon flexure of the joint, the outer material (5) will stretch and theribs (4) will shift such that a column (7) remains between adjacent ribs(4) and the distance between the outer material (5) and the skin (3) ofthe user remains substantially the same even when the joint is flexed,and the outer material (5) cannot rest on the skin (3) of the user,creating an air cushion between the ribs (4) and preventing directaction of the ambient air on the skin (3) of the user to preventundesired cooling of the joint of the user.